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New model of inflammatory bowel disease explores interactions of cells in immune system

Scientists at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech have constructed a mathematical and computational model of inflammatory bowel disease that allows researchers to simulate the cellular and molecular changes underlying chronic inflammation in humans. The model allows scientists to explore different interactions of cells in the immune system, check how these cells are linked to inflammation in the colon, and identify intervention points to perhaps stop the disease in its tracks.

23 Jul 2010

Study identifies infection mechanism of disease-causing microbes

A study published in the July 23 issue of Cell identifies the mechanism used by several types of common, virulent microbes to infect plants and cause devastating blights. Microbes using this infection mechanism include fungi that are currently causing wheat rust epidemics in Africa and Asia, and a class of parasitic algae, called oomycetes, that resulted in the Irish potato blight of the 19th Century. These microbes remain an agricultural scourge today.

23 Jul 2010

Insulin action may provide link between bone health, metabolic disease: Study

A new study by Johns Hopkins researchers has found that insulin, the sugar-regulating hormone, is required for normal bone development and that it may provide a link between bone health and metabolic disease, such as diabetes.

23 Jul 2010

Circulating aberrant cells increase as non-small cell lung cancer progresses

A novel approach detects genetically abnormal cells in the blood of non-small cell lung cancer patients that match abnormalities found in tumor cells and increase in number with the severity of the disease, a research team led by scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report in the journal Clinical Cancer Research.

23 Jul 2010

IBS associated with structural changes in specific brain regions

A large academic study has demonstrated structural changes in specific brain regions in female patients with irritable bowel syndrome, a condition that causes pain and discomfort in the abdomen, along with diarrhea, constipation or both

23 Jul 2010

New technique to detect abnormal cell circulation in non-small lung cancer

Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center are testing a new technique for identifying circulating genetically abnormal cells, which can lead to poor prognosis, in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

23 Jul 2010

Discontinuing epoetin can normalize hemoglobin levels in hemodialysis patients

Discontinuing the anemia drug epoetin may be more effective than reducing the dose for normalizing potentially dangerous high hemoglobin levels in hemodialysis patients, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology. The results provide useful information about the balance required between administering epoetin and achieving target hemoglobin levels.

23 Jul 2010

ASH to honor six scientists for treatment of hematologic diseases

The American Society of Hematology (ASH), the world's largest professional society of blood specialists, will honor six scientists who have made significant contributions to the understanding and treatment of hematologic diseases. These awards will be presented at the 52nd ASH Annual Meeting taking place December 4-7 in Orlando.

23 Jul 2010

Repetition of DRD4 genotype may increase risk for extensive alcohol use

Your friend walks into a bar to meet you for happy hour. He sidles up to the bar and orders a drink - does that make you more likely to get a drink yourself? According to new findings reported in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, genetics may determine the extent to which you are influenced by social drinking cues - signals such as advertisements, drinks placed on a bar, and seeing other people around you drinking.

23 Jul 2010

Study on role of nucleolinus in cell cycle regulation

When searching for long-lost treasure, sometimes all you need is a good flashlight.Such a "flashlight," developed at the Marine Biological Laboratory's Josephine Bay Paul Center, has been used to illuminate a long-neglected cellular component - the nucleolinus - and confirm its role in cell division.

23 Jul 2010

New drug to treat chronic pain in SCD patients

A University of Minnesota Medical School research team led by Kalpna Gupta, Ph.D., has discovered that cannibinoids offer a novel approach to ease the chronic and acute pain caused by sickle cell disease.Using a mouse model of SCD, Gupta and University of Minnesota colleagues studied the pain mechanisms by observing animals that exhibited both musculoskeletal pain and temperature sensitivity, symptoms similarly experienced by humans with SCD. The team compared two classifications of drugs in their ability to manage pain sensed by the animals, the traditionally prescribed classification of drugs, opioids, with a new therapeutic approach, cannabinoids, a synthetic compound based on marijuana derivatives. Currently, the only approved treatment for management of severe pain in SCD is opioids.

23 Jul 2010

Lack of SIRT1 protein exhibits impaired memory and learning: Study

A protein implicated in many biological processes also may play a role in memory, according to a study led by the University of Southern California and the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health.The findings, published this week in the Journal of Neuroscience, agree with research by a different team published online by Nature on July 11. Both studies found that mice lacking the protein SIRT1 exhibited impaired memory and learning, suggesting SIRT1's importance to those functions.

23 Jul 2010

Nestle announces collaborative study with Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute on diet rich in whole grains

Nestle USA Chairman and CEO Brad Alford has announced that Nestle Research Center, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, has donated US $500,000 to Cleveland Clinic's Lerner Research Institute. The gift will fund a collaborative study focused on examining the effects of a diet rich in whole grains on body composition and energy metabolism.

23 Jul 2010

Bullied children are at risk for developing emotional problems

Bullying victimization is common among children of school age, although its consequences are often anything but benign. The recent death of a Massachusetts teen by suicide prompted state lawmakers to pass one of the most far-reaching anti-bullying laws within the U.S. Whether such legislative actions result in measurable decreases in physical or emotional distress among school peers remains to be seen.

23 Jul 2010

Researchers discover fundamental entry mechanism of fungal microbes into plant and human host cells

A research team led by scientists at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech has discovered a fundamental entry mechanism that allows dangerous fungal microbes to infect plants and cause disease. The discovery paves the way for the development of new intervention strategies to protect plant, and even some animal cells, from deadly fungal infections. The findings are published in the July 23 edition of the journal Cell.

23 Jul 2010

Poor intake of vitamins tends to have low bone density in children with celiac disease

Children with celiac disease need to include certain must-have vitamins in their diets to stave off weak bones and osteoporosis, say researchers at the University of Alberta. A study of 43 children and teens from three to 18 years of age diagnosed with celiac disease showed that they also tended to have low bone density, likely due to poor intake and absorption of vitamins and minerals. That means they should be getting more of bone-boosting vitamins such as K and D in their diets, says Diana Mager, a professor of agricultural, food and nutritional science at the U of A, and one of the researchers on the project.

23 Jul 2010

hBD-3 biomarker helps early stage detection of oral cancer

Detecting oral cancer in its earliest stages can save the lives of the nearly 40,500 people diagnosed annually. But early detection has been difficult. Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine researchers discovered a biomarker, called human beta defensin-3 (hBD-3), which may serve as an early warning. The defensin is present in all oral cancers and associated with the early stages of oral cancer.

23 Jul 2010

Osteocalcin hormone can regulate glucose levels: Research

Researchers led by Columbia University Medical Center have discovered that the skeleton plays an important role in regulating blood sugar and have further illuminated how bone controls this process. The finding, published in Cell, is important because it may lead to more targeted drugs for type 2 diabetes.

23 Jul 2010

Gene expression profiling may provide molecular diagnostic tool to diagnose depression

Blood tests have been extremely important tools aiding doctors in making medical diagnoses and in guiding the treatment of many diseases. However, psychiatry is one area of medicine where there are few diagnostic blood tests.New scientific fields may someday generate blood tests that can be used for these purposes. Some of the areas under increasingly intensive study are genetics, the study of variations in the genes that can be extracted from blood cells, and genomics like proteomics, the measurement of the levels of specific proteins in the blood, and gene expression profiling, which measures the levels of RNA produced from DNA as an indication of the level of the "activity" of particular genes.

23 Jul 2010

African ancestry associated with triple-negative breast cancer: Study

A new study finds that African ancestry is linked to triple-negative breast cancer, a more aggressive type of cancer that has fewer treatment options.Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center found that, among women with breast cancer, 82 percent of African women were triple negative, 26 percent of African-Americans were and 16 percent of white Americans were.

23 Jul 2010